'Incredible opportunity': Northville Township man named to state appeals court

Thomas Cameron, left, is sworn in to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Judge Michael Talbot, the court's chief judge. Cameron, of Northville Township, had been a Wayne County Circuit Court judge since April 2014.(Photo: Submitted)

The world of lawyers and judges was a distant one for Tom Cameron's blue-collar family while he was growing up Downriver.

"My family didn't know a whole lot of lawyers, but the law's always been very appealing to me," said Cameron, who now lives in Northville Township.

But there was an acquaintance, the stepfather of a boyhood friend, who was a judge in a local district court, and Cameron recently reflected on the influence he had on his career path.

"I was always fascinated by the stories he would bring back and share while we sat in his living room," he said. "It seemed to me to be a fascinating job and a way that you could give back and serve the community."

That people on opposite sides could settle disputes in a civilized forum, arguing their points from a legal foundation, piqued the young man's interest. "Sort of one of the hallmarks of our representative democracy," he said.

Cameron(Photo: Submitted)

Now, Cameron is himself a lawyer and a judge, and was recently appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to the Michigan Court of Appeals' First District, which is based in Detroit. A former prosecutor and later a lawyer in the state attorney general's office, Cameron had been a Wayne County Circuit Court judge since April 2014.

"It's exciting and humbling to have the opportunity to serve the state in a new and exciting way," said Cameron, who was sworn in on July 20. "It's an incredible opportunity and I feel very fortunate."

He added: "It's an opportunity to make a greater impact on people and the law in general."

Cameron is one of seven First District appeals judges. Working in three-judge panels, the court hears appeals cases from Wayne, Branch, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, Lenawee, Monroe and St. Joseph counties.

Cameron replaces Judge Kurtis Wilder, who was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court. Cameron will have to seek election in 2018 if he wants to stay on the bench.

"Judge Cameron has proven effective at managing a complex docket at one of the busiest trial courts in the country,” Snyder said in a press release, referring to Cameron's time with the Circuit Court. “He continues to be recognized for his talent as a judge, his legal acumen, and his abilities as an administrator and I am certain he will add depth and talent to the Michigan Court of Appeals.”

Cameron, 47, grew up on Trenton, the youngest of Charles and Geraldine Cameron's four children. Charles Cameron was a laborer for Ford Motor Co. and his wife was a Ford industrial nurse.

His father was diagnosed with brain cancer when Tom was 13, and, with his mother having to work and his older siblings in college, he spent a lot of time taking care of his dad, who died when Tom was 14.

"Situations like that make people grow up in a hurry," he said. But it's an experience, he added, that helped him develop empathy for people he sees in court.

"You see people who come before you with far more difficult backgrounds than I've had," he said.

Cameron graduated from Gabriel Richard High School and then from Western Michigan University, where he majored in finance, a subject, he noted, that requires an analytical mindset. "That can be an asset as an attorney and a judge," he said.

He went to law school at Wayne State University, graduating in 1996. Early in his career, Cameron was a prosecutor in Kalamazoo and Wayne counties; in Wayne County, he was part of the homicide division.

In 2003, he joined the attorney general's office, where he prosecuted several high-profile defendants, including then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whom the state had charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with law enforcement. That was one of the many legal tangles that led to Kilpatrick's resignation in 2008.

Cameron later moved into management at the attorney general's office, overseeing several divisions there, before being named to the Circuit Court.

Cameron's wife, Mary, whom he's known since high school, is a family practice physician ("She's a whole lot smarter than me," he said with a chuckle); they have three children, William and Christopher, both 13, and Clare, 10. His mother sold the family home of many decades and still lives in the area.